Top 25 Snub? Huskies make big statement with win over Utah

MMQB: Washington vs. Utah – Week 5 Recap

The Washington Huskies marched into Salt Lake City for the first time ever, looking to go 2-0 in Pac-12 play this season. And they did just that, with a sound 31-14 defeat of the Utes in their first home Pac-12 game…ever. This puts the Huskies at 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play, tied with Stanford and Arizona State as the only undefeated teams in Pac-12 play so far.

QB Keith Price is proving week by week that he’s the real deal. He continued to show that again this week against Utah. He was a solid 22/30 for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 1 unfortunate interception.

That gives Price 17 on the year, putting him in the #2 spot in the nation for passing touchdowns behind Baylor’s Robert Griffin III, who has 18.

RB Chris Polkwas half man, half amazing as he showed that last week’s 60 yard performance was a fluke. This week he rolled to a whopping 189 yards rushing on 29 carries over a nationally ranked Utah defense that just could not seem to slow him down.

The Husky wide receivers didn’t do too badly themselves, either.

Jermaine Kearse led the team with 7 catches for 70 yards and his team-leading 5th touchdown of the season. It was a big statement game for the senior, looking to get his licks in before he inevitably enters next year’s NFL Draft. Devin Aguilar had 2 catches for 40 yards and a touchdown while true freshman Kasen Williams had 2 grabs for 30 yards and the third passing touchdown of Price’s day.

On defense, the Huskies proved they can continue to make the big stops when necessary. Their biggest feat this week was only allowing an astounding 17 yards rushing on 23 carries for Utah. That is a 0.7 yards per carry average.

And continuing their growing trend this season, the Husky defense only allowed 7 points in the second half, in garbage time with Utah scoring with 7 seconds left in the game.

RB Chris Polk ran for 189 yards vs Utah

CB Desmond Trufant and LB Cort Dennison led the team with 4 tackles a piece with Trufant making 2 assists and Dennison coming up with 6 assists. Dennison was in on almost every play whether he was credited or not.

The Husky defense allowed over 300 yards again this game, but they made up for it in turnovers. They caused 4 fumbles, recovering 3 of them. CB Greg Ducre picked off one pass while S Sean Parker stole another. It was an impressive game all around.

The pressure they put in the Utah quarterbacks was tremendous and ended up being a game changer for them.

Yes, I said quarterBACKS. Starting QB Jordan Wynn was knocked out of the game by the third quarter, being replaced by QB Jon Hayes and the Huskies just kept plugging after that, taking advantage of almost all miscues thrown their way.

Each week, the Huskies seem to improve one aspect of their game while holding pat on the rest. If they continue at this rate, the Huskies are going to put up a serious fight for the Pac-12, and that’s no joke.

They are already ranked #28 in the nation and climbing.

This week, Washington is on their Bye Week and will return to play in week 7, facing another team new to the Pac-12, Colorado, at Husky Stadium.